Bringing life back to Alamodome

Updated 11:22 am, Friday, August 8, 2014

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A renovation plan for the 21-year-old Alamodome will be presented to City Council later this month. The $50-million price tag includes new concession stands, three-story exterior concourses on the east and west sides, upgraded scoreboards and a North Plaza expansion. less

A renovation plan for the 21-year-old Alamodome will be presented to City Council later this month. The $50-million price tag includes new concession stands, three-story exterior concourses on the east and west ... more

Photo: Express-News File Photo

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Alamodome renovation could attract a National College Championship game. University of Oregon and University of Texas teams met in the Valero Alamo Bowl NCAA college football game in December.

Alamodome renovation could attract a National College Championship game. University of Oregon and University of Texas teams met in the Valero Alamo Bowl NCAA college football game in December.

Photo: Associated Press File Photo

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Clouds dance over the Alamodome. Dome officials hope upgrades will get the facility invited back to the dance by the NCAA for Final Four events come 2018.

Clouds dance over the Alamodome. Dome officials hope upgrades will get the facility invited back to the dance by the NCAA for Final Four events come 2018.

Photo: Express-News File Photo

Bringing life back to Alamodome

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SAN ANTONIO — Can the city breathe life into San Antonio's Dead Armadillo?

That's the $50 million question coming the City Council's way this month as officials seek to upgrade the Alamodome.

Imagine new concourses along the dome's east and west sides, new concession stands, upgraded scoreboards and a North Plaza expansion with flexible event space.

The proposed changes go on. But you get the point: The dome is up for an extreme makeover.

The hope is the renovations will make the Alamodome competitive for a College Football Playoff championship game and an NCAA Final Four. After failing to land the 2017 College Football Playoff, local leaders believe these upgrades will put San Antonio back in the game for 2018 and beyond.

But if you renovate it, will they come? And if they do come, does the community truly benefit?

These questions are difficult to answer, especially given the Alamodome's history. The Dead Armadillo is, after all, a term of endearment and derision.

Maybe that's why officials are spinning this as a twofer: The upgrades will give the Alamodome a shot at marquee events while also extending its life another 20 years.

Despite high hopes, an NFL team never came to the dome — the Oakland Raiders aren't likely to change that. But the old dome hosts major concerts and events and is home to UTSA football.

These updates will help keep that momentum going, or at least that's the argument.

“If you can meet the specs for those two events you are going to meet them for everything,” said Michael Sawaya, the city's convention, sports and entertainment facilities director.

Shoot for the stars, and even if you miss, you might hang the moon.

Sawaya will be presenting the renovation plan to the council later this month. In early September he will be hosting the NCAA Final Four site selection committee.

“They want to come here,” he said of the Final Four. “Their fans want to be here. They think this is one of the best cities to hold their event. They have a great history and great experience with us. The only issue that we really have is that we have to improve the building to their standards.”

He was optimistic, but not so unequivocal, about landing the College Football Playoff championship.

Financing details are being hashed, but Sawaya said the upgrades would be paid through increased parking and ticket fees.

At present, the city charges a 50 cent facility fee and $10 parking fee. Those would be raised to some yet-to-be-determined amount, with the city borrowing against those projected revenues, or a share of those revenues.

Bids would be for the 2018, 2019 and 2020 seasons.

The fixes are substantive, not sexy.

The most notable is a concourse expansion that was projected to cost $13 million in 2012. This expansion would double the concourse width to 40 feet. It's something the NCAA has highlighted and would only be done if the Final Four or football championship game bids were accepted.

The North Plaza expansion would create hospitality space that could double as a media room for big games.

The visitor's locker room would be overhauled and expanded, demolishing the old San Antonio Spurs locker. The loading dock would be expanded to accommodate broadcast trucks.

Relying on fees to pay for all of this has its advantages.

For starters, it doesn't come from the city's general fund, so no one can argue the upgrades are taking away from core services. It also functions as a user tax.

Such nuances will likely play well with council when Sawaya presents details for the upgrades.

“My view is it has been a great asset to the city. I know that there are still citizens that think it was a white elephant,” said City Councilman Joe Krier, who lobbied for the dome's creation in the late 1980s. “If we can extend its useful life by another 10 to 20 years and pick up some of these major national events that will have been a good investment.”

Investment is a bit of a buzzword about the dome.

“If we make these investments, I think it's very reasonable to project we can get at least one national championship in football and basketball,” said Derrick Fox, president and CEO of the Valero Alamo Bowl.

Likewise, City Councilman Ron Nirenberg said, “If we get the bid, and we spend the money, what is the return on the investment?”

Nirenberg was impressed with the potential economic impact of such major sporting events. This is entirely understandable, but it's a particularly murky talking point.

After landing the 2017 College Football Playoff, Tampa officials pegged the economic impact as $250 million to $350 million to the region, generating about 1,800 jobs, for example.

But research has shown these economic impact numbers are often inflated.

“Examinations of major sporting events such as the Super Bowl, All-Star Games and post-season play also find no significant economic impact from hosting major sporting events,” says a 2007 research paper by sports economists Robert A. Baade, Robert Baumann and Victor A. Matheson.

Heywood Sanders, a UTSA public administration professor who fought the dome, shared some of these concerns. It was unclear to him how these big games would improve the community beyond memorable weekends.

He was also concerned about the city's continued use of debt to cover projects with only nominal public input or scrutiny. How does the public know, for example, that the city's fee projections for this are accurate?

And he was skeptical a new-and-improved Alamodome would measure up with newer NFL venues like AT&T Stadium in Arlington or University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.

Both will host College Football Playoff championship games.

“It's very competitive,” he said. “There are lots of new domed stadiums in prime destination cities.”

Still, he thought the dome should be maintained. He's just not sure this is the best route or the right price.

“Do we need upgrades to maintain what we have and keep it useful?” he said. “I don't know the details on that, but I suspect we could get away with it for less than $50 million.”

Sawaya is aware of this dynamic — that $50 million is a lot of money just to attract some big games. The opportunity to host the events might be driving these upgrades, but they are being done for bigger reasons, he said. Besides, the city spent nearly $15 million between 2008 and 2014 just maintaining and updating the dome, records show.

“I would never have put together a plan to say, 'Oh, let's spend $40 million so we can get the Final Four.'”

That's why the concourse expansion hinges on these marquee bids.

Doing these upgrades, he said, “gives it another 20 years worth of life and hits it the right way with the right things to modernize it rather than doing it in pieces.”

Again, the twofer.

The dome might not be the success voters hoped for, but that doesn't make it a failure, either. It adds to the city's quality of life — something far more important than signature events — and that's reason enough to keep it going.

Who knows, maybe 20 years from now when the dome is washed up and ready to be torn down, SA will finally be NFL ready. Just in time for another stadium debate.